Ask Box Status- CLOSED

I made it through the first year of medical school y'all!!

So for the summer break I'll have my ask box open while I take a break from doing the character analysis (be on the lookout for a poll in July though for my next round of characters). The ask box will likely close sometime at the beginning of the second year because our schedule is insanely packed and I do not want to keep anyone waiting with my asks during the school year. I'll let you guys know when they'll be closed and I'll finish up any remaining asks in my inbox. Just wanted to set some ground rules before opening up my ask box for any Pokemon related questions or comments! Feel free to ask me about the Ash anime, Horizons (I'm catching up with the new anime), the mainline games (including Legends and Let's Go), Pokespe (granted I haven't read the Gen 4 through 7 chapters so my knowledge there is limited), the Festival of Champions Doujinshi, and Pokemon Masters as well as my own Pokemon AU Cactusverse! 1.) Do not rush me: I've had this happen and it was not a pleasant experience at all. Please understand I am busy with catching up with family/friends, they're making us study over break (we're starting are boards studying which for those of you who don't know are massive behemoths for both US MD and DO students) and I like to take my time with answering the questions. I want to be thorough in answering questions so I may not get to your question the day you submit it. Please have patience. If you come into my inbox asking when your question is going to be answered, I won't answer it.

2. Do not send me any himbo, feral, or yandere headcanons: I'm not a fan of those tropes for any character in Pokemon (or honestly any series) and I do not want to see them in my inbox.

3. No NSFW

Now for the multi-part asks. Unfortunately Tumblr has a strict character limit for asks (500 characters) which is limited. In the past I've answered multi-part asks (people continuing asks over different submissions) and I'm still willing to do so. However they take longer and can be very confusing if more than one person puts a multi-part ask in around the same time (especially on anonymous mode)

1. Do not send me multi-part asks on Anonymous: This will just make it easier for me group asks together if I have a username attached to it.

2. Please limit the asks to 3 parts (~1500 characters): This is just for my sanity in being able to format the ask and being able to answer your question in a timely manner. I've done asks longer than that in the past but with the limited time I have now, I can no longer do that. I will not be answering asks that go beyond 3 parts. I'm looking forward to chatting with you guys again! It's always fun to answer asks and I enjoy seeing what people out there think about the various aspects of the Pokemon franchise.

Something that I was thinking about recently regarding Legends Z-A with the discussions on whether it's going to be set in the past or the future... As we know we don't truly have any clearly established consistency for legends games (since there has only been one so far) so anything could happen. One possibility that hasn't been talked about much is it occuring in the near past. Basically within the traditional timeline from RBGY/FRLG/Let's Go to Scarlet/Violet After all there is that indeterminate gap between the events of Johto and Sinnoh and the first set of Unova events. And the Kalos events are said to happen concurrently with the BW2 events which occur two years later. It would be interesting to see Legends ZA being a prologue to the things to come for Kalos especially when you consider Lysandre's motivations being born out of lack of resources for a large population. If by chance, the redevelopment starts the scarcity (or enhances) we could see perhaps a younger Lysandre growing disillusioned which would lead to the creation of Team Flare. It would be definitely be a somber moment, knowing what happens in the XY events but it would be an interesting story angle.

This was something that was brought up on the Pokemon Masters EX sub-Reddit that I thought might be interesting to explore With the latest Mysterious Stone Arc, everyone's speculating who might be paired up with Arceus at the end. While most of the consensus is split between Rei, Volo and the Pasio MC. However a couple of people have pointed out the possibility of Arceus going to multiple people. Which could certainly work. After all Arceus the being is different than Arceus the Pokemon. We know in Legends, Arceus offers a piece of itself to the player. And with the legends stating it shaped the world with its 1000 arms we could reasonably assume the equine form of Arceus we see in games are just those "arms". So could it be possible that in Pokemas, that Arceus deems more than one trainer worthy of its power. At the very least it might be an answer to the Rei vs Volo vs Pasio MC question if all three (or at the very least Rei and Pasio MC) get an Arceus pair. On the other end of the spectrum the idea of 18 trainers getting Arceus (one for each type) would be something else.

“The battlefield, the ER. A wrong move in either can result in a loss. Of the match or life. Can you handle that [player]? Better yet, show me! As champion my team will cut through yours with surgical precision!”

Thank you to @Kibanyans on Twitter for this stunning art of my trainersona Cami as champion for my birthday (which is today)

Alright so I've been seeing a lot of discussion surrounding Volo and his Togepi on Twitter and I wanted to put my thoughts on the situation. In the latest Pokemas event we see a part of the story where Volo's Togepi greets N and N hears her voice. N clearly tells us that Togepi states that Volo takes care of her. And it's mentioned earlier that it's clear Volo does love his Pokemon. Yet people have noted that in the lodge the subject of "Love for Pokemon" is in his "interesting" topic category (as compared to say, "Excitement Building" or "Super Exciting"). Therefore it's led people to believe he actually hates his Pokemon and that he's actively manipulating them. I don't think that's the case. See one thing Pokemon has done well since Gen 1 is environmental storytelling, often done through the teams. You can learn a lot about a character's personality through the Pokemon they choose and the move-sets. Volo is no different. Him having a Togepi (and later in PLA a Togekiss). This is important because Togepi as we know evolves via high friendship and GameFreak often gives Pokemon who evolve via Friendship to antagonistic characters when they want to show they're misguided over just flat out cruel. And it's not just Togepi/Togekiss...by the boss fight with Volo we see him have a Lucario and Roserade...both Pokemon who have stages that require a friendship evolution. Togekiss and Lucario are also notable for being Pokemon that can sense feelings and they stick by Volo even when he's ready to remake the entire world.

This is GameFreak's signaling that Volo, despite him being a major backstabber, isn't 100% full of malice. That there's part of him that have good traits. But then why, you may ask, is "Love For Pokemon" so low for him on the lodge topics? Well it's likely because it's not a topic he's super passionate about. The lowest tier is "interesting"...and not "dislike/boring". Sure IRL, depending on tone "interesting" can be a polite way to say "I don't really care" but for Pokemas "interesting" topics just seem to be topics the character may either know only a little about or is intriguing but not something that would make them start talking a mile a minute. Volo having "Love for Pokemon" as an interesting topic likely points to the idea that he doesn't make that a huge part of his daily thought process as say Leaf who has it as her "Super Exciting Topic" (and indeed a lot of her Pokemas characterizations surrounds this as she is super passionate about it). Is it a noteworthy topic enough that's he's willing to talk about? Yes, but it's not something he's super passionate about compared to say myths and legendary Pokemon. It doesn't mean he's secretly manipulating his Pokemon and hates them. He has Pokemon that would be able to sense his true intentions if that was really the case. He has trust issues for sure (his lines about using others before they use you sound like he's been betrayed)...but that seems to be aimed moreso at humans (and Arceus) than his own team.

I am very optimistic for Legends ZA being set in the Kalos region Although to be 100% honest I was hoping for a legends Johto game. Johto definitely deserves to be seen in 3D (as does Unova) since those are the last two regions to not have at least one game to themselves that's fully 3D But after the presents, what came to my mind is they may be saving Legends Johto for 2026. 2026 is the 30th anniversary of the entire franchise and every time we've hit a 10th anniversary of the series, we've gotten games 2006: Diamond and Pearl 2016: Sun and Moon So it's very likely they're going to continue that with games in 2026. Now based on previous trends it would point to us getting a new region and starting gen 10 which I definitely can see But they are trying to not be as predictable as they've been in the past so I can see them maybe switching it up for the 30th with a headliner being a legends game Remember Pokemon was supposed to end with GSC (they were originally called Pokemon 2). Yet thankfully the series has continued on. I think given the huge success of both RBGY and GSC and the fact that Kanto and Johto are connected...the 30th anniversary may be a homage to the two classic regions We've seen that with Legends Arceus and Legends ZA that they tend to centralize on a major locale. Jubilife Village (City) for Hisui and then Lumiose City for Kalos. There are quite a few iconic places in Johto but if I had to guess if we do ever get legends Johto the locale may actually be the Indigo Plateau since it's shared by both regions and is a good home base for a game that potentially would include both (maybe starting the base game in Johto and then the post game story moreso in Kanto). The development of what is the oldest leagues is itself a major worldbuilding point among the rich history of Johto and untapped potential on Kanto.